“Help! My dog is growling and snapping at me!” What do we do when Fluffy becomes a ferocious beast over a toy or her bed? Then it's time for some training understanding. Mine! A Practical Guide to Resource Guarding in Dogs is a very handy book for all dog owners with pets who may guard food, toys, people, territory, and have handling sensitivity. Resource guarding is a natural and normal behavior, it's a way for the animal to say, “this is mine, you can’t have it, go away!” This is a very complex behavior to change and we must be up to the task. Author Jean Donaldson is one of the leading educators to dog trainers. She takes on resource guarding systematically which enables us to effectively alter behavior. In the back of the book she offers a very clear process and step by step approach to training, outlining several types of resource guarding. The book is designed to teach professional dog trainers so it can be jargon heavy. Otherwise, it’s easy to read and if you're working with a trainer you will be better able to discuss the training process with her. I highly recommend working with an experienced trainer when dealing with resource guarding so you can have guidance and recommendations for management and training. The more we all know the better we can work together.
Training
Why Clicker Training?
The question of why I use clicker training comes up from time to time. Living in a busy city, walking our dogs, and going about our day clicking away seemed weird and intrusive to me. I was shy about what my neighbors may think and worried someone might say, “you're doing it wrong”. Once I gave into the clicker I never looked back and lo and behold I now teach its virtues. The reason I caught on to it is that if a clicker is used correctly it works! It works fast! It’s not hard to learn how to use and the dogs love it! It can be used on just about every type of animal just think about the whistle zoo keepers may use when doing a presentation or moving the animals from place to place. I can click much faster than using a marker word like; “yes” or “good”. When I want a dog to perform a precise behavior I can click at the exact moment the dog moves into the sweet spot, which can be a small muscle movement. I can click and she then knows exactly what I want (after a bit of time using the clicker in training). If I use a verbal marker like “yes” I’m usually too late and I lose precision. It will take much longer before she will know exactly what I want. This becomes a “conversation” or a fun game between the animal and myself. One where she wins with every click! She wants the reinforcer and will pay attention and try to get me to click. When I pull out a clicker my dogs get super excited, rushing to the room they think we are working in today! Ready to go mom they say!
